Hi Brandy! You've been performing live recently - how have the shows been going? I've been flying! Natasha Bedingfield once told me that when she sings she feels like she's flying, and I said I never really feel like that because I'm always worried about other things, but recently I've been more able to just let go. Now I'm so full of energy and love.

That's nice Brandy. It's so nice!

So ... a lot of actresses who have done teen sitcoms and then had a music career have gone a little off the rails(1). Are you worried? No, I think I've already gone through my bad girl phase … I've done things I haven't been proud of.

Like twerking on Robin Thicke?Ha ha no! Look, everybody has experiences where they learn who they are and that they need to go through those experiences to get to the other side. I don't judge, because like I said, I have gone through things in my life that I'm not so quick to tell anybody about. We have to be supportive through people's transitions and one of the hardest things to do is to transition in front of everyone with judgments and opinions about you(2).

Did you struggle with that when you started? You were criticised a lot early on…(3)Of course, but success is the best revenge. When you achieve and you see people who didn't believe in you, you kinda think: "Oh I told you didn't I?! I showed y'all!" At the same time when you get older and wiser you let go of that.

Your braids were iconic for a generation of teenage girls. What did you think about in the hundreds of hours you spent getting them?Girl! I would just think about what I was gonna do when I was done. That was acquiring a lot of patience, trust me. Actually, that made me a patient woman. Sometimes I get braids now too, and I think "Oh lord, why am I back in this chair!"(4)

Moesha ended on a cliffhanger (5)... so what actually happened?I don't know, and I'm on the cliffhanger with y'all! I hate the way Moesha ended, it was so wrong doing it that way because people took the journey in those six years and people were attached to those characters. To do that … I don't think was right.

You name your inspirations as being like Whitney Houston and William Allen Young. How did you marry the two identities of being a singer and an actress?I love both. I love acting because I love finding the comedian within myself, and I try to do crazy things now.

Yeh, do you practice that unimpressed face on America's Got Talent beforehand?Girl! I don't practice! When those strippers come on stage they just shock my face!

In The Game(6) you play a bartender called Chardonnay. What is it with you and alcoholic drink monikers?I know, can you believe that? Trust me, I was trying to get them to change her name. I mean, I was like "Can we at least be Cristal?!" Chardonnay? I mean, that is just not it.

Your third album Full Moon is often described as one of the best R&B releases of all time - in part because of Darkchild's production. Was that the golden age of the R&B producer?Well he's a fearless producer, he still is. It was a blessing at the time. I wanted to try something different and I felt like the universe at that time was putting both of us together. I'm so glad R&B is making a comeback – people like Pharrell and Robin Thicke and all these people who aren't afraid to dive into real music again. That just makes me inspired.

You started your career as a backing singer. What advice can you give backing singers that want to get noticed?Just start oversinging the artist, that's how you gonna get your chance! No, I'm just kidding. I was able to learn so much that way. I was dreaming when I was singing background, I was just dreaming, you know? I sang in church and choirs and it was a great time, I wouldn't change how I got my start for anything.

Did you fantasise about pushing the artist off stage? Only sometimes! Ha ha!

Footnotes

(3) Record execs told Brandy that she didn't have "the look" to make it big. Back to article

(4) For the record, there are no braids on Brandy's head today. Back to article

(5) In the last episode of Moesha, her younger brother goes missing and there's a mystery pregnancy. If the tension is too much for you, though, the internet provides a fair amount of fan fiction detailing alternate endings. Back to article